It's a Yes or No Question

by Lachlan Summers

1. Are you a hard-working person?
2. Is there a reason a manager wouldn’t be able to reach you by phone? 
3. Are there a few different types of "overtime"?
4. You’re not a complainer, are you? You’re not the type of son who would stop answering his father's calls? 
5. Are there necessarily just five days in a five-day working week?
6. Would you describe yourself as a person who wins regardless of the cost? 
7. Do you happen to know my son? Or would you be willing to befriend him?
8. Have you ever had to deal with failure? Is it always your fault?
9. Could I use your phone to quickly send him a message? 
10. Would you sit with me while I interview the other candidates?

Bio: Lachlan Summers (@backup_sandwich) is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. His nonfiction writing has been published in Aeon, Noēma and Griffith Review. He grew up in northeastern Australia and lives in Berlin.